On Cosmic Tides

“Now for the fun bit,” Laurel said, rubbing her hands together. Adam and Annette both perked up. “All City Cores store blueprints of all the buildings that have ever been used to anchor any other Core. We can browse through to find the one we want and then direct some mana to make the building process easier. The Core is too delicate at the moment for much else, but we can manage this. And since this building will act as the anchor, a connection to the Core from the beginning will make things easier.”

Annette looked intrigued at the idea of shopping for buildings. “Can you make it so we can see as well?”.

Laurel concentrated for a moment, until a miniature palace made of golden light shimmered into existence in front of them. “This was the Citadel I grew up in,” she informed them. She pointed to a corner window on one of the wings. “This was my room.”

They all leaned in to get a better view of the place. It was a perfect recreation, down to the individual bricks and window panes. Adam slowly reached out his finger and poked the side nearest him. As he made contact, the wall he touched dissolved and they were able to see the interior as well.

“How many are there?” he asked.

“Far more than we could ever look through” Laurel said, ruefully. “It's not just the buildings from our world, but every other world as well. If we think of some parameters we can narrow it down.”

Adam nodded and pulled out the notebook he had been working out of while Laurel had been healing all and sundry. “Lucky for us then, that one of us thinks ahead.”

“Alright, the first thing is size. This is going to be an administrative hub and living quarters for the foreseeable future. We’ll also need room to teach and store materials. And of course the most important point, room for the library. We’ll add buildings to the compound eventually – good call Annette on buying the neighboring lots as well – but even so we’ll need something big. Very big. We’re essentially looking at something comparable to the noble estates in the higher districts or the university.” As he listed off what they needed Laurel filtered the available buildings. With a flex of her spirit she had the list show up in front of them on a stylized golden scroll made of tiny motes of light.

“Next, it needs to account for the climate. Winters here are tough. You do not want to be cold in the Flats in winter.” Some of the more exotic options dissolved off of their list, including a tropical bungalow, a few floating buildings, and a complex made from hollowed out trees and living mushrooms.

“We want to avoid anything that looks like a palace. The king appears to be willing to work with us, no need to push that.” Annette began adding her own notes. There were still hundreds of thousands of options to choose from at this point. “Can we filter on style? Even with help from the City Core, Meristans are going to have to build this. We should try and keep it something at least vaguely familiar. Not to mention we still want something grand. We want to become a trusted institution, it will help if we have a little bit of flair or mystery in the building. But not so much that we scare people away.” Laurel focused again and most of the off-world designs left the list, along with anything that looked noticeably Laskarian.

“We still have a few thousand options. Anything else we can think of to trim it down?” They all contemplated this as Laurel had the floating image begin cycling through their options.

“Go back one!” Annette barked. Laurel brought up the previous building for a closer look. It was four stories above ground and two below, with tall windows on the upper floors letting in light from all sides. The roof had a glass dome observatory allowing for a full panoramic view of the surrounding area. The outside was blocky, but with enough flourishes and clever lines to avoid being an eyesore. A few balconies and rooftop patios broke up the imposing walls, and gave the whole edifice a more welcoming appearance. They prodded the walls to see inside.

“We could use the bottom two floors for the public areas. The healing area you were talking about, classrooms, or whatever.” Adam’s eyes were shining. “Third floor could be offices and the Library, of course, top floor for living areas, at least for now.”

“Ooh, it has an elevator.” Annette added from where she was poking around the corner. “They’ve started installing those in some of the more avant-garde noble estates. I don’t see where we attach the cables though.”

“It's magic, no cables necessary on the lift platform,” Laurel said. She made a wave with her hand and the image started to rotate.

“It looks like it was ‘The Grand Observatory of Sun Mountain’” Laurel said. “Certainly seems appropriate.”

They continued to poke and prod until ninth bell when a group of men approached. Their leader had the weathered skin of a life outdoors and corded muscles that spoke of hard physical labor. He must have been twice Laurel’s size at least. Annette stepped forward and made introductions. John Lyman, the owner and foreman of the construction company they had hired to work on their project, was soft-spoken despite his large frame. A thought Laurel immediately felt guilty for, with her own small stature having been a point of contention in the past. They led him over to where the miniature version of the building still floated. Laurel tweaked the mana running through it and scaled it up to be as tall as she was.

“We’ll bring it up to be a perfect 1:1 scale that you can build on top of. The mana will both help the construction go faster, and keep us to the most efficient build plan.”

John let out a low whistle. “This is quite the project you are looking to build. In a normal situation I would probably estimate a full crew around 2 years to completion, once we have the materials.” Laurel made a note to get something nice for Annette as a thank you for finding someone who could take mystical blueprints in stride. “I have to say,” he continued, “if I knew magic could make diagrams like this, I would have found a hedge wizard to join the crew ages ago.”

“So you can do it?” Laurel asked.

“We can. We’ll do a walk through, get started blocking everything out today and begin some of the construction digging out the foundation immediately. I have a list of suppliers we can work with for materials. Anything else we need to know?”

Adam took the opportunity to interject. “We are going to be here for a long time. If there is a way to hire some Flats locals for some of the unskilled labor we would appreciate the chance to build some good will.” John readily agreed.

“Let's see what this thing looks like full-size.” Laurel announced. At the same time the building projection started growing before their eyes until they were standing at the center with a massive city-block sized building outlined around them. Laurel closed her eyes and focused, and the golden glow dimmed until it was barely visible, hazy and translucent, with the foundation level appearing more solid.

John nodded and yelled for the crew to start staking out the footprint. “We’ll be back tomorrow with the scoop.” He told them.

“I’ll see what I can do in the meantime,” Laurel said. “You might be surprised at the amount of dirt a determined cultivator can move.” John shook her hand and walked off without further comment to begin helping his crew with their tasks.

Laurel, Adam, and Annette left them to it, and convened over on the side of the worksite. “What now?” Annette asked. “It will take them years to finish the building, what should we be doing in the meantime.”

“It will be more like months. We’ll get the hard stuff out of the way before winter sets in.” Laurel replied, being met with skeptical looks from the other two. “It's hard to describe but with mana fueling the construction, it will go far faster than anything you’ve ever seen using mundane methods. But even so, I agree we need to plan our next steps.”

Laurel decided to go first. “It's going to take a few hours every day to coax the amount of mana flooding the capitol into some semblance of order. I’ll be working on that. I figure I can help with some of the construction as well, moving materials around. I’m no mason but the spatial storage will be useful. We should also agree to some hours each week when we’ll continue the healing at the storefront. It gets people to like us and has been doing wonders for my cultivation.” Annette looked at her askance. “And it's good to help people, of course.”

Adam chuckled. “Let's see. I won’t have any way to set up the library until the building is done. I can work on designing our administrative systems in the meantime. I’ve been translating the book on sect management, and I think the contribution points system will be fascinating to implement. And of course I’ll keep on the guild memberships.

“Which reminds me, we need an animal we’ve caught and killed ourselves, processed into vellum for the Fraternity of Hunters. And I need to track down a stationary shop that carries blood based ink.”

“Gross. Why do we need that guild again?” Laurel was more confused than anything while Annette retched to the side.

“I bet spirit beasts will be classified as big game, and we will want to harvest them, according to the manuals I’ve been reading.”

“Right, that’s a good point,” Laurel replied. She pulled out a scrap of parchment she had written the week before. “We should start on an inventory as well, for the resources we’ll be starting out with, what we want to offer for new members, hunt any local beasts that pop up, plus the generals will want us working with their recruits….”

“I’ll work on scheduling.” Annette snatched the list from Laurel’s hand and read through it. “And I can research what we can sell or distribute when it comes to magic objects. Stars, every foundry, smith, or ceramics producer would pay an arm and both legs for that crystal we used this morning to heat up tea.” Annette said.

“That’s good,” Laurel said. “After buying the land and paying John’s team, we’re low on funds. I can take some more of the gold to the Royal Mint but you all seemed against that last time.”

“I told you. Too much gold at once and the value goes down. Honestly with the amount of silver you unloaded all at once you definitely got a bad deal.” Annette said. “You two are lucky I found you. Get one gold bar exchanged. That will be more than enough for our expenses until we have a functional building. Anyone we buy from won’t expect payment until delivery anyway.” Laurel bowed her head in acquiescence to Annette’s superior understanding of the local economy.

“We’re definitely forgetting something though,”Adam said.

They all sat silently for a moment before Annette huffed out a laugh. “People. We’re forgetting people. We can design a perfect administrative system all we like, but who are we going to be administrating. We need to find some people who are currently cultivating or who would be interested in learning, who have the gumption to defy the drudgery of mundane life and challenge the heavens. That’s how you said it right, Laurel?”

Laurel nodded slowly while Adam mouthed the words ‘drudgery of mundane life’. “Yes I see your point. But maybe we can wait a bit until we start recruiting.” Both her new friends looked surprised at the hesitancy.

“The army will be sending people soon. We may as well start getting you some students of our own at the same time. We wouldn’t want the balance of power to tip too far in the government’s favor,” Annette said.

“No, I know you're right, just…” Laurel sighed. She couldn’t find the words.

“What is this actually about?” Adam asked. “You’ve been focused on this sect for half a year and now you want to slow down?”

This was it. She would have to bare her shame to them and let them decide whether or not to stay.

“I told you before I left the empire I attempted to start the sect in a small town there, and I left when I realized how intolerant the place was to magic.” She looked up to their encouraging expressions and had to look away again. She had enough blame for herself and didn’t need to see the moment it replaced mild curiosity on their faces. “That was true, but incomplete.”

A deep breath, maybe the last before she was alone again. “I was trying to follow the founder’s example, start in a small town and recruit some new novices. I found one boy to join me, Borin. He was a teenager that had been run out of town for being a burden. I was teaching him how to cultivate along with how to track and forage, things like that. I left for a few days on what I thought was a hunt. I figured out later it was a distraction to get me out of town. When I got back to our homestead, Borin was dead. He’d been tortured.

“I killed the cultivators that did it. Ripped them apart. And then another group right before I left the Empire.” She left it there. Nothing was going to make her give voice to the details of those massacres.

“Oh, Laurel.”

She risked a glance at Annette after she spoke but the other woman looked lost. It was the usually acerbic Adam that had something to say. “We all make mistakes. And we all have regrets. Can’t let them keep hold of you or they’ll drag you all the way down.”

“I know you’re correct in that wisdom. But it’s still hard to imagine adding more people until I’m sure they’ll be protected.”

“So we’ll start small.” Annette was back in perfect-posture problem-solving mode. “Only a few to start. Merista isn’t like Laskar, we’ll be safer. Especially inside a magic building. We can start spreading the word that we are holding interviews in a few months. It will be difficult. Magic users around here still don’t tend to advertise the fact so we’ll have time in finding and convincing people to join for you to get comfortable.”

Laurel reached further back in her memory, to the time she was once a bright-eyed young novice, excited to delve into the wonders of cultivation. “Maybe we’d have more applicants if we established a guild with insanely specific criteria for the paper you write the application on. But we’ll be starting with mostly folks who are brand new to cultivation. It won’t be ideal but it will be a long road no matter where we start.”

“I’ll set a date for when we’ll start interviews, and maybe figure out some advertising.” Annette was still thinking of logistics. “We won’t have anywhere to house these people for a while anyway.”

Their conversation wound down, and Adam hunched over his notebook making a list of tasks for the week. Laurel wandered back to the spot she had cultivated the previous day and dropped back into the mana currents. Cultivating was much more appealing than feelings at that moment. The next few hours were a blur of slowly carving channels, using the streets of the city as a guide for the mana to follow. It reminded her of the singularly unpleasant process she had gone through to burn in her meridians. That excruciating process involved carving passages in her own body to allow her mana to continuously circulate, thus giving her a conduit to affect the world. Now she needed to do the same thing for an entire city. Less painful, perhaps, but far more tedious. And just as dangerous if she allowed concentration to slip. When she judged enough had been accomplished for the morning, she stretched from her static pose and wandered off to kill something for the Hunter’s Guild.

That evening, after the construction crew had departed, Laurel stood staring at the ground that would become her site of her new citadel. At the moment it was a bare patch of carefully leveled dirt onto which she was heaping centuries of hopes and dreams. The mortals of the modern era were ingenious, and she had no doubt they had some clever way to dig out the basement and lay the foundation. But no matter what, digging down dozens of feet would take them weeks, if not months. As much as she was fascinated by their machines, that was too long. Winter was fast approaching and it would be almost impossible to move the earth after it froze or work outside in freezing rain.

She reached out with her mana, infused with her own iron will. She created a blade of air, as thin as her smallest finger, sharp as well-honed steel. Laced throughout were traces of her metal mana, lending substance. It was imbued with the honed cutting intent built up over decades of sword mastery. Satisfied, she extended the blade until it stretched ten feet in front of her hand. Fingers held together with her palm facing the side, she stretched her arm out and brought it down, the blade following the motion. It bit deeply into the earth, following the line laid out by the mana blueprint, still a hazy overlay visible in the rising moonlight.

Laurel smiled and slowly walked along the edge of where the building would soon sit. Her hand stayed stretched behind her, as if she were dragging an invisible weight along the ground. She reached the corner and dismissed the wind blade. She walked ten feet along the next side of the building and repeated the process, walking back in the direction she had started until there were two parallel furrows the length of the build site cut into the ground. The next bit would be trickier, and involve cutting in at an angle. Nothing she couldn’t handle. Soon she had separated a large chunk of dirt and stone from the surrounding area. She knelt next to it and willed it into her spatial storage. Between one breath and the next, a trench ten feet long with perfectly smooth sides and razor sharp edges had appeared between her cuts.

Getting the storage tattoo had been the most painful experience of her life. Far worse than regrowing limbs or a shredded lung. Worse than opening her meridians or suffocating as she deepened her air attunement. Several elders had held her down while a grandmaster tidal cultivator had woven her spatial mana and a trace directly from the cosmic flows to give her access to the extradimensional space, and then sewn it into her soul. The process was risky, but the results had been well worth it. The tattoos were more secure than the rings many cultivators preferred, and unlike the rings, they grew with the strength of the cultivator. And it couldn’t be lost. Even if someone cut off her arm, she would be able to regrow the tattoo, since it was imprinted on her spirit as much as her flesh. The technique had been one of the cornerstones of her sect. How terribly fitting that she was using it to haul dirt.

Laurel continued cutting away at the ground until it was time to reconvene with the others for dinner. After they ate, Adam and Annette made it clear they had no intention of continuing to camp out and headed back into the city proper. Laurel told them she would stay and drop in at the shop tomorrow to confirm their scheduling. Today she had released some of her pain. Working through the night would help her remember that her path stretched ever onward, with plenty of time to atone for the past.